Tropentag, September 18 - 20, 2019 in Kassel "Filling gaps and removing traps for sustainable resources development"

Genetic Fidelity Assessment and Phytochemical Bioprofiling of Field-Grown, in vitro-Grown and Acclimatised Musa spp. Accessions

¹International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria
²University of Ibadan, Dept. of Pharmacognosy, Nigeria
³Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Inst. of Nutritional Science, Germany

Abstract

Musa spp. (bananas and plantains) are staple food crops for millions of people living in tropical countries. They are considered as important crop plant due to their high economic value and good dietary source. More so, they have significant medicinal importance and can serve as a source of phytoconstituents for the pharmaceutical industries. In vitro plant tissue culture can be a reliable alternative source of plant material for phytoconstituents production. However, true-to-type clonal fidelity is one of the most important pre-requisites for the use of micropropagated plant materials as source of phytoconstituents. This work aimed to assess the genetic fidelity of the in vitro-grown materials from the taxonomic reference collection; as well as the phytochemical characterisation of the accessions.
Diversity Array Technology (DArT) sequencing was used to generate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers that was used for the genetic fidelity study. In addition, the variation in the secondary metabolites profile of the leaves from field, in vitro-grown and acclimatised materials was compared. The effect-directed analysis using high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was used to identify compounds responsible for many biological activities.
The results of the pairwise genetic distance matrix among the Musa accessions were determined using 150.5K SNPs and found 23 out of the 26 accessions were true-to-type. Considerable variation of total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the Musa spp. were revealed to be genotype-dependent. Accumulation of the useful secondary metabolites, in terms of antioxidant activity, was higher in in vitro-derived material. Four compounds with multiple biological activities were identified in the Musa spp. studied samples: Asparagine, pyrrolidine alkaloid, linolenic acid and a phenolic compound. Musa spp. leaves were also found to be rich in flavonoids (kaempferol^-3-O-rutinoside and quercetin^-3-O-rutinoside).
The results confirmed the genetic fidelity of in vitro-grown accessions that were true-to-type which validates the use of plant tissue culture as an alternative and reliable method for large scale production of plant material and supply of bioactive constituents.

Keywords: Antioxidants, bioactive constituents, in vitro culture, musa spp., true-to-type

Contact Address: Ibukun Ayoola, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, e-mail: ayoola.ibukungmail.com